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| March 7, 2008 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
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| Visit www.cdhcsolutionsmag.com to learn more about the magazine and our new social networking site which is exclusive in the field. Now you are even closer to the cutting-edge solutions and conversations discussed in CDHC Solutions magazine. No more one-way, top-down consumer-directed healthcare information from brochures, media kits, lectures and Web sites. Now you can put the power of virtual networking to use in real time. And most importantly, now you can interact easily with your peers and experts in the field about topics featured in the site or your own interests. Also, please check out our Virtual Events where you can attend keynotes; workshops and view Exhibitors all from your desk. |
[Official Guidance] The Family and Medical Leave Act and National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 - Web page
DOL will update this page as additional guidance is developed and published. (U.S. Department of Labor)
[Guidance Overview] Washington, D.C. Council Passes the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Although the D.C. Council has passed the ASSLA, it does not have the effect of law until the Mayor approves it and after a Congressional review period of 30 'legislative days' has expired without Congress acting on the bill. If the ASSLA becomes law, the District of Columbia will be the second jurisdiction in the United States to require employers to provide paid sick leave." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
[Guidance Overview] Eliminating the HIPAA Catch-22 in Clients' Estate Plans
Excerpt: "One major problem created by HIPAA is its impact on planning for incapacity. Most clients have estate plans that provide for someone else to manage their affairs or make health-care decisions for them if they are unable to do so themselves. This would include their successor trustees of revocable or irrevocable trusts, agents under any financial powers of attorney or medical powers of attorney. A common structure is for these powers to spring into effect upon the incapacity of the individual, as determined by a physician's certification. Unfortunately, your physician might consider making such a certification of incapacity to be a prohibited disclosure of private medical information." (Morningstar)
[Guidance Overview] Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated March 5, 2008, for Health and Welfare Plans (PDF)
11 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding health and welfare benefit plans. (Hewitt Associates)
[Guidance Overview] Health Care Plan Did Not Violate Women's Cancer Rights Act by Limiting Payment for Surgery
Excerpt: "A health insurance plan did not violate the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act (WHCRA) when it refused to reimburse a participant for more than $30,000 of the participant's $40,000 bill for bilateral breast reconstruction surgery or for private-duty nursing. This was the ruling of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Krauss v. Oxford Health Plans, Inc., et al. (No. 06-0343)." (Wolters Kluwer Financial Services)
[Guidance Overview] State Law Requiring Consent Prior to Withholding for Benefits Preempted
Excerpt: "ERISA preempts a state law requiring employees' written consent prior to withholding wages for welfare benefits, according to an Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) advisory opinion." (Wolters Kluwer Financial Services)
2007 Comprehensive Health Care Reforms: Side-by-Side Comparisons
Excerpt: "Many of the 2007 legislative bills and governor / state commissions proposals have similar components. For readability and printability, we have broken our comparison chart into three relevant areas: Market Reforms, Subsidized Health Insurance, and Employer Assessments; Wellness Initiatives, Disease Management, and Quality Initiatives; and Medicaid Expansions. [The target page] links to side-by-side comparisons of features of select bills and executive proposals currently being considered in the states." (National Conference of State Legislatures)
Health Policy Reform: Beyond the 2008 Elections
Excerpt: "This report draws on the [Commission on a High Performance Health System's] work during the past three years, as well as other research, to provide journalists with an evidence-based context for understanding the fundamental problems plaguing our current health system, as well as policy options under consideration for addressing these problems. Regardless of the election outcomes in November, health reform will be among the most pressing domestic issues facing our nation's leaders. No one imagines that the problems described in this report will be solved quickly or easily, but there is no questioning their urgency." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Patient Opinions to Be Added to Hospital Comparison Web Site
Excerpt: "Beginning later this month, the federal government's Hospital Compare Web site will expand to include patient opinions based on satisfaction surveys conducted at nearly all hospitals, the San Antonio Express-News reports." (California HealthCare Foundation; free registration may be required)
Sick Leave Pay a Hot Topic Among Workers and Employers
Excerpt: "Advocates of making paid sick days a basic labor standard say the United States should follow all other developed countries and require businesses to let ill or injured employees miss work without docking their pay or threatening their employment. But companies argue that such a requirement could drive some of them out of business." (The Dallas Morning News)
House Passes Mental Health Parity; Difficult Conference Looms
Excerpt: "Legislation that would bolster mental health benefits gained strong House approval Wednesday night, March 5. It now heads for what could be difficult House-Senate negotiations to produce a final bill." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll for the 2008 Election - March 2008
Excerpt: "This March 2008 poll finds that health care plays a role in two ways: as an independent issue, and as part of the voters' growing concerns about the economy." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
AAPPO 2008 Survey of Consumer-Directed Health Plans (PDF)
Excerpt: "Virtually all CDHPs, which includes health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement accounts (HRAs), are based on PPO networks. The hallmarks of the PPO delivery system -- choice, access and flexibility -- clearly are a factor in enhancing the CDHP model and promoting continued growth in CDHP enrollments." (American Association of Preferred Provider Organizations)
Proposal Could Lift Fee Limits Imposed on HMOs by State of California
Excerpt: "The way that state regulators levy penalties and fees on HMOs is coming under intense scrutiny in the Capitol. And now one Democratic senator is trying to remove what is effectively a limit on fines against health providers." (Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
New York's Cuomo Expands Probe of Health Insurers
Excerpt: "New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday he issued new subpoenas to Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., and other health insurers in a broadening investigation of possible fraud costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars." (Houston Chronicle)
Uninsured Moderate-Income Children: The Impact of Parent Employment on Access to Employer Coverage (PDF)
Excerpt: "While the majority of children in moderate-income families have employer-sponsored coverage, one in ten are uninsured and about 20% depend on public coverage (Figure 1).This brief focuses on moderate-income families and examines how family income and the types of jobs that parents have differs depending on whether the child is uninsured or privately insured." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Companies Taking an Active Role in Employee Health Care
Excerpt: "With rising health care costs weighing heavily on employers' minds, more businesses are taking matters into their own hands by encouraging workers to eat right, exercise and stop practicing bad habits. But while more companies are promoting wellness, no statistics show that these programs necessarily result in improved health, productivity or lower health insurance premiums." (Birmingham Business Journal via bizjournals.com; free registration required)
Big Three Automakers Reduce Health Care Spending by $2.1B from 2005
Excerpt: "The Big Three automakers -- General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler Group -- spent $8.9 billion on health care in 2007, compared with a record $11 billion in 2005, the Detroit News reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
House Bill Mandates Mental Health Coverage
Excerpt: "The House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would require health insurers to cover treatments for addiction and mental conditions the same way they provide for physical illnesses. The bill, which was approved 268-148, would broaden coverage to virtually every type of mental illness." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Lawmakers Try to Get Paid Sick Leave Benefit for Thousands in N.C.
Excerpt: "Supporters of legislation that would mandate paid sick leave for North Carolina employees hope they can ride the coattails of this winter's severe flu season when the General Assembly returns to work in May. Spearheaded by the N.C. Justice Center, a coalition of advocacy groups and unions representing blue-collar and low-wage workers is pushing for a change in state law." (The News and Observer)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview] The Universal Fiduciary
Excerpt: "The common denominator for almost all fiduciary governance is the concept of a 'prudent' fiduciary. Further, the conduct required of a prudent fiduciary is, universally, that of a prudent process. Procedural prudence may seem, at first blush, like an amorphic concept ... attractive sounding, but difficult to apply. Or, procedural prudence may sound like a grand idea in the realm of academics, but of little application in the real world. However, neither of those conclusions is correct. Instead, prudent process is, at a fundamental level, both specific and implementable. But it does require a commitment to engaging in a process to make decisions." (Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen)
[Guidance Overview] Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated March 5, 2008, on Human Resources & Employment Law (PDF)
14 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding human resources and employment law. (Hewitt Associates)
Congressional Panel to Review Executive Payouts Given by Troubled Firms
Excerpt: "Chief executives of three financial companies who received outsize pay packages even as their shareholders lost billions in the spreading credit crisis are scheduled to testify before Congress on Friday, and if a memorandum released ahead of the hearing is any guide, they can expect quite a grilling." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Supplemental Information on CEO Pay and the Mortgage Crisis (PDF)
23 pages. Excerpt: "In preparation for the Committee's hearing, the Committee has received thousands of pages of documents from the three companies, including board minutes and internal company emails. The Committee staff also has reviewed hundreds of public Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and consulted with leading experts in executive compensation. This memorandum summarizes some of the questions raised by the materials reviewed by the Committee staff." (U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)
House Panel Questions High Pay for CEOs
Excerpt: "The heads of three companies implicated in the mortgage crisis have been asked to explain how they collectively received hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation while their companies were losing money. Slated to appear Friday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee were Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender; Stanley O'Neal, formerly of Merrill Lynch & Co.; and Charles Prince, formerly of Citigroup Inc." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Small Biz Owners Planning for Boomer Retirement 'Brain Drain'
Excerpt: "Twenty-eight percent of the small-business owners in a recent survey have planned to have older workers transfer their professional knowledge to younger colleagues. A news release from the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) about its survey on the potential for a 'brain drain' when baby boomers retire, said respondents in the current survey also reported they had more older workers this year than last." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
e-Communications: Grease Is the Word
in Illinois on March 20, 2008
presented by WEB - Chicago West
Learn About ftwilliam.com's New 403(b) Plan Documents
Nationwide on March 13, 2008
presented by ftwilliam.com
PEBA's Annual Forum: The New Workforce- Building a Culture of Innovation and Integration
in Pennsylvania on April 10, 2008
presented by PEBA --Penjerdel Employee Benefits & Compensation Assn.
Newly Posted Press Releases
Education Level And Marital Status Among Factors Influencing 401(k) Investing, Watson Wyatt Finds
Watson Wyatt
Murtaughff Named Communications Chief at PBGC
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
New FMLA Military Provisions Raise Questions Among HR Professionals
J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Administrator - TPA
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Sales Vice President for Qualified Plans
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Wachovia Retirement Services Relationship Manager I
for Wachvoia
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Senior Investment Advisor
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in OR
Project Manager Health & Welfare Vendor Management
for Discover Financial Services
in IL
Project Manager Retirement Plans Vendor Management
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Sr Associate Benefits Analysis
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in IL
Senior Product Analyst
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in ANY STATE, AZ, CA
Director of Brokerage Services
for USI Consulting Group
in NY
Senior Actuarial Analyst
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in CA
Regional Retirement Representative
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in MO
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